Uncasville, CT. — A smooth Azzi Fudd jumper from the top of the key. An Ashlynn Shade corner three. KK Arnold doing jumping jacks while playing inbounds defense, forcing a five second call. Kayleigh Heckel blasting up the court to convert a fastbreak and-one. Sarah Strong diving at midcourt for a loose ball and then flinging a pristine pass over her head for a layup.
UConn keeps coming, play after play, player after player. The Huskies stomp on you and then peel the remains off the bottom of their shoes before they do it again. The phrase “well-oiled machine” was created with this team in mind. Relentless may as well be a synonym for UConn. And juggernaut found its true meaning when this squad hit the floor.
That was first-half UConn in a 72-69 win over No. 6 Michigan. They went into the locker room leading 45-27.
“I’ve coached against them for a long time, I’ve known Geno (Auriemma) for a long time,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes-Arico said. “This might be one of the best teams he’s ever had.”
Third-quarter UConn? I’ll let Fudd describe that team.
“We scored four points in that quarter,” she said, noting Michigan’s 18-4 advantage in the frame. “That is not OK. We did a lot of that to ourselves. We kind of beat ourselves and we let them get shots that we shouldn’t have. In the first half, we were locked in, we were focused. We kind of got lost in that third quarter.”
So the country’s most dominant team is human after all.
Auriemma knew it. He woke up with a pit in his stomach. He was nervous all day. Not because he didn’t believe in his No. 1 team, but because he also believed strongly in Michigan. “I haven’t seen many teams in the country better than them,” he said.
The Huskies passed the test, albeit in dramatic fashion. But this team is that good. Good enough for Barnes-Arico to praise them as one of the best UConn teams of all time. Good enough for Auriemma to sit on the podium after the win, seemingly unfazed by the dismal third quarter. No quips about how terrible they were. No sharp, self-depricating jokes. Instead, he looked at Fudd and Strong with pride. Those two are the core of this team — the beginning of the juggernaut and the end of the well-oiled machine.
Strong, who is already the far-and-away favorite to win National Player of the Year, is the country’s most complete player. In every contest, the 6-foot-2 sophomore is going to be a mismatch. Just look at how she scores inside with strength and finesse. How she knocks down three-pointers. How she fires outlet passes or leads the fastbreak herself off the dribble. The eye test is one thing – and frankly her skill is so obvious it doesn’t take 20/20 vision to see it – but Strong’s stats back it up.
Through six contests, Strong is averaging 19.6 points, 11 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 3.2 steals and 2.8 blocks per game. In UConn’s 100-68 victory over a solid Ohio State squad on Nov. 16, Strong led UConn in every category, all while not committing a single turnover. And against Michigan, she led the Huskies on the glass with 20 rebounds – a career high.
Then there is Fudd. A graduate student senior who has been through the wringer with injuries but came out stronger on the other side. She was named Most Outstanding Player in last season’s Final Four and was eligible for the WNBA Draft, but opted to come back because she felt scouts had yet to see her full game. They are seeing it now.
When UConn was ice cold against Michigan, it was Fudd who took charge. She has been in these situations before, and the guard showed poise, knocking down three straight three-pointers in the fourth quarter, followed by four clutch free throws and a game-clinching steal.
“Sarah is a truly special player,” Barnes-Arico said. “And Azzi, she just doesn’t miss.”
Juggernaut? Undeniably. Perfect? Not quite. While Auriemma is thrilled with his star duo, the coach wants more from the supporting cast. Against Michigan, no other Husky hit double digits in scoring. When UConn is at its best, contributions come from all over the court, including the bench. In that statement win over Ohio State, both senior big Serah Williams and sharpshooter Ashlynn Shade finished in double-figures.
But it was 6-foot-2 forward Blanca Quiñonez who truly changed the game, scoring 18 points and showing off her ability to shoot the three (2 of 4 from long range) and score off the bounce. Her athleticism and raw skill are off the charts, but there were also five turnovers to be accounted for. “She will make a fantastic pass and I will say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know she could do that,’ or she can get to the rim and make a fantastic finish and look like a pro,” Auriemma said. “And then she will make a pass that no human being could throw and possibly think that is a good pass.”
Unpredictable is the word Auriuemma uses to describe Quiñonez, but it can also be applied to the rest of the bench. At times, the players show out. Other times – like against Michigan – they don’t show up. UConn had just five bench points in that contest.
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Yet despite the lack of supporting cast production against Michigan, Barnes-Arico sees the vision. Williams will find her place. Barnes-Arico remembers her dominating the paint in the Big Ten last season when she scored 19.2 points and grabbed 9.8 rebounds per game. And KK Arnold showed Barnes-Arico her clutch gene when she hit a three-pointer with 3:37 left to push her team’s lead back to 61-49.
“That was the crushing bucket,” Barnes-Arico said. “We talk about Sarah and we talk about Azzi, but the thing that makes UConn one of the best UConn teams is their experience, and that comes from players like KK.”
So UConn is human, yes, but probably superhuman. Now the question is, are the Huskies beatable?
Maybe.
It took a heroic effort from the No. 6 team in the country, a team that has perhaps the most talented sophomore trio in the NCAA in Syla Swords, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway, to even threaten UConn. It took eight three-pointers from Swords and 18 points from Olson. It took an impressive defensive adjustment of paint-packing zones to slow down UConn, and perhaps the worst offensive stretch in Huskies history. And even then, Michigan, one of the best teams in the nation, could not take down the champs.
The juggernaut is alive and well, it just needs some fine-tuning. And that means UConn can get even better.
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